Moving on and big life changes, sharing a house in college

Moving on and big life changes, sharing a house in college

Here I am, 22 years old and moving out of my first college house. It’s blows my mind that I have lived there two whole years! With a neutral pea green exterior, two stories connected by a very narrow staircase, wood floors, and stainless steal appliances, this house was actually quite the luxury for a college student. My room had a slanted ceiling and pale blue walls, mimicking a cute attic vibe while looking over the whole neighborhood.

My roommates and I have grown a lot together these last couple of years. There have been a lot of tears and a lot of really hilarious moments, thank god we have smartphones to capture it all amirite? I’m so happy I can look back on those memories. We have learned how to share, how to manage housework together, and how to find personal space in a small house with three girls. That one can be a toughy.

It’s a surprisingly nostalgic feeling, moving out of a place that has finally started to feel like home. It is exciting to move to a new place that will provide new memories, but I can’t help but feel like I’m leaving a little piece of me behind.

As I reminisce and pack up my room to move into my next house, a more typical college dwelling I might add (think dingy basement with terrible lighting), I take a few lessons with me:

Minimalism is a choice worthing trying

Nothing has been a better wake up call about how much junk I own than developing carpel tunnel from literally writing “random shit” on tons of boxes of stuff in my room. Not a healthy thing. I started going back through these boxes as I was packing up and got rid of some of my stuff and it feels great. I highly suggest going through your own room and getting rid of at least 1/3 of what you own. And as a plus, your roommates will appreciate that you are tidy and clutter free rather than someone who leaves their stuff everywhere all of the time. Minimalism has also showed some success as a way to improve mental health as well!

Confronting problems head on is better than stewing

This is a big life lesson, not just in roommate relationships, but really, any type of relationship. If there was a problem one of us had with the other, waiting and not talking about it really made it worse. Even if it was silly things like cleaning or dishes, letting those feelings of frustration just sit never helped us when we finally got so frustrated we burst. That doesn’t mean complaining every chance you get, however. Having a ‘roomie chat’ every once in a while was a great way that we found maintained our sanity as we learned to coexist together. We would meet and talk about any problems we felt we were having and talk about everything right then and there. It helped clear the air and get stuff off our chest, making our relationship a lot stronger. This goes for any relationship. Honesty is always the best policy.

Get out of the house to study for school

It’s actually really hard to study at home sometimes if your roommates don’t need to. If you study in a communal area in the house, then you have to concentrate over other peoples TV or friends over or just accidentally getting caught up in a random conversation with them. While that isn’t the worst, it can kinda affect the quality of your study time and sometimes just means you have to make a special point to get out of the house and study somewhere more suited to school work. My roommates and I like to go to the library at school and use that as our official spot to be quiet and only focus on doing homework while we drown in endless coffee.

Label your food or be really okay with sharing back and forth

If you don’t want to share, make that clear by labeling your food. If you like to share, then make sure your roommate feels the same and you both actually pay for things instead of letting it get too one-sided. If that happens, refer to tip number 3 above 🙂 Either way, just figure it out right away what kind of food people you are and respect each others boundaries.

Things really aren’t as big of a deal as you think they are

Things can get a little overwhelming as you are moving into your first place alone and dealing with roommates. Picking out decorations, dishes, parking, and everything in between can cause riffs in between you and your roommates. It isn’t worth getting too heated over things that in the end don’t matter. ‘If it won’t matter a year from now, don’t let it bother you now’, or whatever that Pinterest quote is, is a great phrase to use as a guide. If your roommate does something that is truly wrong, then yes be upset and get mad or whatever you want to do. But, if what arises is something that is a ‘typical’ roommate problem, maybe try to keep some perspective and rise above. This can apply to life outside the roommates too, deep breaths and perspective are a great way to help you rise above dumb problems that come up in every area of your life.

What are things you’ve learned sharing a house in college? Leave them below!